page_title: Red wolf
section_title: Captive breeding and reintroduction
hierarchical_section_title: Red wolf / Captive breeding and reintroduction
caption_attribution_description: English: FWS staff with two red wolf pups bred in captivity. The red wolf is an endangered species that is currently found in the wild only as experimental populations in Tennessee and North Carolina. These carefully managed wild populations contain approximately 60 animals. The remaining red wolves are located in 31 captive- breeding facilities in the United States. The captive population presently numbers approximately 180 animals.
context_page_description: The red wolf is a canine native to the southeastern United States which has a reddish-tawny color to its fur. Morphologically it is intermediate between the coyote and gray wolf, and is very closely related to the eastern wolf of eastern Canada.
  The red wolf's proper taxonomic classification — in essence, whether it is an admixture of wolf and coyote or a third, distinct species — has been contentious for well over a century and is still under debate. Because of this, it is sometimes excluded from endangered species lists despite its critically low numbers. Under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service currently recognizes the red wolf as an endangered species and grants protected status. Canis rufus is not listed in the CITES Appendices of endangered species. Since 1996 the IUCN has listed it as a critically endangered species.
context_section_description: After the passage of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, formal efforts backed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began to save the red wolf from extinction, when a captive-breeding program was established at the Point Defiance Zoological Gardens, Tacoma, Washington. Four hundred animals were captured from southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas from 1973 to 1980 by the USFWS.
  Measurements, vocalization analyses, and skull X-rays were used to distinguish red wolves from coyotes and red wolf × coyote hybrids. Of the 400 canids captured, only 43 were believed to be red wolves and sent to the breeding facility. The first litters were produced in captivity in May 1977. Some of the pups were determined to be hybrids, and they and their parents were removed from the program. Of the original 43 animals, only 17 were considered pure red wolves and since three were unable to breed, 14 became the breeding stock for the captive-breeding program. These 14 were so closely related that they had the genetic effect of being only eight individuals.
  In 1996, the red wolf was listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as a critically endangered species.
caption: USFWS worker with red wolf pups, August 2002
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